Royals lose heartbreaker to Rangers, 3-2 in 10 innings

There will be a temptation to blame this game on James McArthur. After all, he gave up two runs (one earned) in two innings, blowing his first save of the season.

There will be a temptation to blame this one on manager Matt Quatraro for having Dairon Blanco pinch run for Vinnie Pasquantino in the eighth inning. Blanco didn’t score and pinch running for the Pasquatch forced the Royals to sacrifice their DH slot to move Salvador Perez onto the field which led to the three-hole being occupied by the pitcher in the bottom of the tenth inning which led the Rangers to intentionally walk Bobby Witt Jr. and forced the Royals to pinch-hit with Nelson Velázquez who flew out to end the game.

There will be a temptation to blame the Royals offense which only mustered two runs all day.

None of these are the culprits.

Two of the four hits McArthur allowed were infield singles and one was a home run that missed being a foul ball by inches. The move to pinch run for Pasquantino worked as well as it could have; Blanco stole two bases and was standing at third for the American League RBI leader with one out. If Salvy had come through there, the Royals would have had a crucial insurance run headed into the ninth and the home run allowed by McArthur wouldn’t have cost the team the game. And the Royals’ offense scored two runs off of Jon Gray in seven innings which, no, isn’t good, but also represents the most runs he’s allowed since his first start of the season. He was followed by Kirby Yates, who hasn’t allowed a run to anyone, and David Robertson, who hadn’t allowed a hit in six straight innings prior to earning the save, today.

Sometimes the other team just plays better. That’s how it worked out today. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a heartbreaker. The Royals led from the bottom of the first until the top of the ninth. This was a game and series they could have won. But the other guys get paid, too.

There were lots of positives in this one. Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino both continued their hot hitting. Witt had a double, a triple, and that intentional walk plus two runs scored. Vinnie sacrificed him home in the first and singled him home in the third and also took a walk. MJ Melendez collected a pair of hits including a double. And for most of the game, that seemed like it was going to be enough.

The game seemed like it could get out of control early as Daniel Lynch IV, making his season debut in a spot start for the injured Alec Marsh, loaded the bases in the first inning thanks to an infield single and a pair of walks. But he struck out two and induced a groundball to end the inning. Even with no runs scored, things seemed dire because there was very little in the way of depth to today’s bullpen after last night’s fiasco. But didn’t just settle down from there, he became very pitch-efficient and ultimately pitched five scoreless innings, striking out six, and allowing only one more single the rest of the way.

Angel Zerpa, who is probably the third-best reliever on the team after causing a lot of people to scratch their heads with his inclusion to the Opening Day roster, tacked on two scoreless innings to get things to John Schreiber in the eighth. Schreiber, unfortunately, gave up a manufactured run when Leody Taveras led off with a double, advanced to third on a Marcus Semien ground out, and scored on a Corey Seager sacrifice fly. McArthur gave up the home run to Jonah Heim - who has four in his last six games - and then allowed Nathaniel Lowe to get a clean single into right in the top of the tenth.

As Royals fans, we are accustomed to waiting for the other shoe to drop even when things seem to be going well. The team has not been winning a ton of games over the past week as the offense has scuffled and the pitching has come down from the stratospheric levels they were reaching early on. However, this still appears to be a very good team that is going to be in most games and win their fair share. The Rangers are a tough team and the Royals lost two out of three. It happens. Don’t give up on them yet. There’s still lots of good to come for this team.

The Royals will open a new series tomorrow as the Milwaukee Brewers come to town. The Brewers have also been pretty good this year, so expect another tough-fought series. Cole Ragans will take the mound for Kansas City in the opener against Bryse Wilson. First pitch will be at 6:30 CT.